George Doriot and the History of Venture Capital

Spencer E. Ante, BusinessWeek

The emergence of modern venture capital dates to the post-WWII era, and, despite Silicon Valley’s dominance in the field today, it was born on the East Coast. BusinessWeek editor Spencer Ante offers a history of corporate investment structures. The notion of investing in a business with money obtained beyond one’s personal family – the very crux of this high-stakes business segment today – was a demoncratization of the business world hitherto unseen.